It is a truism, frequently invoked by the members of the Meryton Women’s Guild, that one is only ever as happy as one’s unhappiest child. So, with five daughters and four grandchildren, it was a miracle Mrs Hester Bennet ever raised a smile. At best, she was only ever tentatively pleased, and even then understood that her contentment rested on the edge of a gaping precipice into which she would inevitably tumble the second Kitty or Lydia (it was almost always those two) messaged in the clutches of yet another existential crisis…
Lydia, home from Paris on New Year’s Day in a welter of hangover and humiliation, finds herself swearing off drink, drugs and sex for the next 12 months. Through her unfamiliar sobriety, she’ll see a landmark year for all the Bennet sisters, including a disruptive 40th birthday, an engagement and a and, maybe, coming to terms with the results of a run-of-the-mill run-in with a jackknifed lorry on a wet stretch of the M1…
Oof, this one was on my TBR list for awhile, and it did satisfy my desire for my P&P. I love the concept of modern day Bennets after the events of the novel (No surprise to those who read my excerpts) and one set after the untimely death of Darcy and Bingley (in this case, Charley) from a New Years car crash. Sign me up!
Nadin ably captures the humorous dysfunction of the large family with heart as they struggle through their mid-thirties and forties. The humor is particularly British, dry and sort of mocking. They’re always insulting each other and taking a ridiculously long time to learn the lesson. But I suppose it fits with the family’s stubborn natures. However, that does make it the middle part a slog as they each reach their rock bottom of sorts. But that is aided by how each protagonist is so in-character that you want to know how they’ll pull through.
Below I’ll go through each arc by sister since they are the stars of the show, moving the plot forward and coming together in their groupchat for those familial feels.
Lizzy Bennet is surprisingly not as engaging as her OG counterpart. But I believe that makes sense as three years later, she is still mourning the loss of her soulmate while raising two kids and a thriving OB-GYN. The lack of spark reflects her depressed state or Nadin wanted to give the other sisters the spotlight. It makes sense for the novel, but it made her new romance and her hesitation to move on predictable. Her storyline with Jane, pushing against her new wedding and displaying two sides of the grieving process was much more compelling. It allowed for great insight into Jane and Lizzy, as well as real conflict between the two from Lizzy pointing how nice Jane is to the point of blindness and Jane saying Lizzy is judgemental and controlling, almost like Darcy before he improved himself.
Holy Jane! Who would have guessed that she’d rebound with George Wickham. Wickham!!! It’s deliciously dramatic and Jane is smitten with him. Or should I say, in lust with him. It’s interesting to see Jane portrayed as someone other than a goody-two shoes. She’s still that, but she has more overt flaws like her willingness to ignore Wickham’s red flags because he’s that good in bed, her struggles with her teenage daughter who resents her so-perfect mother and Jane unsure how to navigate that. Also there was that conflict with Lizzy in regards to the different roads of grief.
Side note, Wickham makes a plausible return to the family and is just as obnoxious as ever that the whole family (yes, even Mrs. Bennet) can see. He’s charismatic enough that you can see how Jane falls for his new nice guy act but he’s such a dick too to Lydia, to his ex-gf and his NB son who is predictably ashamed because he’s not the manly spawn he wanted.
The bookish middle child, Mary, is shunted to the side. Much like her book counterpart. Her arc of trying to get out of her comfort zone and her very specific dating preferences provided a lot of humor and it was enjoyable to see her finally find her special someone with Collin (he was such a long-winded fop, I loved it! And how he was the only one who liked Mary’s singing). I did question why no one seemed to pick up that she was autstic. Her inability to understand social cues, literal-mindness, rigidness to the rules, hyperfixations, it seemed clear. With a book involving other identities like Wickham’s son, Timon, Kitty’s daughter’s ADHD and the family’s belief that Mary is ace, no one mentions autisim? It seemed strange.
Kitty has an uneven arc, reflecting how readers see her as boring and a copy of Lydia. Since her accidental pregnancy and move back to Longborn, Kitty has a content life. She has a boyfriend who is good to her, a stable job hairdressing and meds for her daughter’s ADHD. But when Dave pops the question, it leads to an extisential crisis. She misses her partying days and the dreams she had of living outside of England, partying in Ibiza. But with her responsbilities to her daughter, and no college degree, she can’t viably follow a different ambition.
She’s bored and doesn’t want to just be a wife/mother and that leads her to screwing over the one good guy she has because she doesn’t know what she wants or who she is. It’s a good arc for her but I just wanted to shake her for being so selfish and her constant whining of not knowing what she wanted. It doesn’t help that the narrative keeps saying how good Dave is, but seeing him through Kitty’s eyes he does seem boring and unambitious. Honestly none of the love interests have real depth but. . .
Lydia’s! Lydia steals the show (of course, she does) with her hot mess antics. From denying her alcoholism or sex addiction (which turns into a shopping addiction when she goes sober-celibate) to her unwise flirtation with WIckham and half-harted attempts to start a healthy fling with the postal delivery guy, Denny, she is always entertaining. But Nadin imbues her with real pathos as there are moments between impulsivity that readers see how she hates being the screw-up but is feels compelled to keep making bad choices.
The revelation at the end of what the root of her instability is so obvious in hindsight yet fitting for the character. Her arc feels the most fully-formed with its rising action, bad climatic decision and slow redemption. It helps that Denny has a lot of page time for playful fliratious banter and is genuine good guy when he turns down Lydia’s drunk offer for sex and breaks up with her.
Mrs. Bennet’s a few snippets too, charmingly hilarious as she tries to one-up her fellow Meryton Women’s Guild members by having the most identity-relevant grandkids (My kid has ADHD. My kid is gay with depression and anxiety. You get the idea), her histronics over the slightest illlness and general dramatics about her daughter’s love lives. Mr. Bennet was himself too, sticking his head in the newspaper to avoid everyone with a very heartwarming conversation with Jane to tell her Wickham’s true nature.
A joyful homage to Jane Austen’s universal themes of love and family, and learning to know yourself in order to get out of one’s way sometimes. Great fun for anyone who wants to get to know the Bennets in the modern day and see that they fit no matter the time period.
5 stars
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